Marathons cancelled / postponed across the UK

UK Marathon timetable affected by Coronavirus

After laying waste to race timetables throughout the rest of Europe, Coronavirus arrived in the UK. Here it wasted no time doing likewise.

All of the big spring UK marathons have been affected. The Virgin London Marathon was the first to suffer, being forced to reschedule to 4 October. Inevitably, other races also had to change dates. April marathons, such as Manchester and Newport similarly opted for 11 October amd 25 October respectively. The Southampton Marathon has decided on 21 June. And a few, including the Shakespeare Marathon, have opted to cancel.

Marathons organised for May were soon to experience the same fate. Scotland's premier marathon the EMF Edinburgh Marathon was one of the first to postpone. Despite the Scottish capital being rich in events, they were however able to secure 6 September as a new date. The Liverpool Marathon, another May favourite, has had to move operations to 25 October. Two other popular events, Belfast and Windermere, have also re-organised. The Belfast Marathon has moved race day to 20 September and the Windermere Marathon will run on 1 November. As with April races, a few (Three Forts Marathon, Walled City Marathon, etc) have opted to cancel.

So it looks like it could be a busy autumn. With many races rescheduling to September or October, those months are looking busy. with several marathons lined up for every weekend. This could cause problems. Many runners could find themselves double-booked. And with the Coronavirus looking like it could be with us for a while, the situation could become a lot more complicated.

When all this will end, it's hard to say. We're just hoping the scientists, nurses, politicians and public can work it out. They seemed to get it to work in China. So hopefully the same can happen here.